Chapter 9
Lincoln's POV
Gabrielle looks so beautiful, God damn it, she looks beautiful. You know when you’re seeing someone with a fresh pair of eyes as if seeing them for the first time? That’s how it feels every time I see her. Every morning I wake up and she graces me with her vision.
How could I have missed what was right in front of me the whole time?
How could I have lost sight of that? I was so tired and so ungrateful that I didn’t see it right in front of me.
The woman who I’d loved all my life, that she’s always been beautiful, and that the only reason she started looking duller is because that’s how I was making her feel.
I feel like kicking myself, thinking about how I messed up something so bad.
I feel a little bit better now, but damn, I’m tired all the time.
What doesn’t make it easier is living there with her, jerking off every moment I get, because I’m incessantly hungry and horny for her.
Since I’ve gotten back from the hospital, I haven’t had sex with Sarah, and honestly, I don’t want to.
Sarah feels like something I’ve completely lost taste for, something that was a snack, something sweet.
And for someone who’s never had sweets before, of course it’s going to blow your mind, but no matter how many sweet things you start to eat, at some point your body is going to remind you that you crave a huge piece of steak and a full-blown meal with vegetables and cornbread and just sweet soul food, which Gabrielle fully embodies.
She always made me feel as though I ate a full meal, and I don’t know how in heaven’s hell I ended up losing sight of that.
Tom comes over and puts an arm around Gabrielle’s shoulder, something that makes me bristle, but I try to hide it.
“Well, now that you’re single,” Tom says to me, “I can say that there’s nothing wrong with a little aggression.”
He directs it at Gabrielle with a big smile.
Sarah’s been beside me this whole time, her face sour. She smiles with absolutely zero humor in that smile.
“Aren’t you married, Tom?” Sarah asks.
Tom smiles back. “Well, for her, I’ll make an exception.”
Gabrielle smiles.
As soon as she does, my dick dropkicks my pants.
Gabrielle speaks up, saying, “If you were single, maybe. I’m very flattered, Tom, but unfortunately, I can’t be caught doing women at the bottom of the barrel activities.”
She finishes off as her eyes land squarely on Sarah as if to make a point.
Holy shit.
Was that something Sarah said to her?
Sarah hisses.
Or maybe it just feels like she does. That’s the sound I imagine her making when I look at her face.
Throughout the evening, Gabrielle seems to just get along with everyone, and I can see that she’s changed a lot of the people’s perception, and that people actually like her.
This makes me happy, and I know it makes her happy, too.
Every now and then, I see her exchanging looks with me. The moment her eyes are on mine, my heart flutters, much like the very first time we kissed, held hands, all the memories flash through my mind, shuddering nonstop as if my own life is flashing before my eyes.
Then, like clockwork, the energy in the room shifts. It’s subtle at first people straightening their posture, voices dropping, clusters of coworkers nudging each other. And then I hear it: a wave of applause rolling through the venue.
Tobias Voss has arrived.
There are men who pretend to have alpha energy, and then there’s Tobias… the kind who doesn’t have to raise his voice or puff up his chest because the air changes the second he walks in. The kind where everyone automatically moves the hell out of the way without being told to.
He cuts straight through the room, that unnerving confidence in every step. His suit looks like it was tailored by some ancient cult of artisans who sacrificed a goat to get the lines perfect.
He has the posture of a military man. He wasn’t.
People clap harder as he approaches each cluster.
He’s doing his usual thing: fraternizing, making himself look approachable, encouraging everyone to lower their guard so they can slip up and expose themselves.
It’s the game he plays, the same trap he set for me when I first joined Helion.
I didn’t know it was a test at the time; I just refused to take the bait.
I remember him offering me a drink once during a team celebration, his hand on my shoulder like we were lifelong friends.
“Go on, loosen up,” he’d said.
But I didn’t. Something in my gut told me not to. I stayed respectful and sincere.
Turns out, I passed without realizing there was even a challenge. Voss weeds out the weak by letting them reveal themselves.
He always gets what he wants. Always.
Even now, as he moves through the room like he owns not just the building but everyone’s spine. Then his eyes land in our direction.
On Sarah first.
Then on Gabrielle.
Then on me.
He smiles.
That slow, sharklike smile that means nothing good.
He starts walking toward us.
My heart taps too fast. I hate that I’m nervous, but his presence does that to everyone… even the people who pretend they’re too important to feel it.
He greets Tom first, then Sarah, then me. Then his attention lands on Gabrielle and doesn’t move.
Dread starts climbing up my spine.
I clear my throat. “Tobias… this is Gabrielle.”
Voss takes a slow, calculating look at her, then smiles like he’s discovered a secret.
Gabrielle doesn’t even blink.
We drift toward the buffet as a loose group, Voss staying with us like he’s observing a small social experiment. Tom tries grabbing a plate, talking to Voss about the new prototype cycles.
Big mistake.
Voss taps Tom’s shoulder and says, “Well, that’s like you, Tom. If only you’d meet the deadlines. We probably would have released sooner if people stopped procrastinating like Tom over here.”
Everyone does that nervous, restrained laugh people do when a dangerous man is joking but not really joking.
Then he elbows Gabrielle playfully, as if trying to rope her into the humiliation.
She doesn’t miss a beat.
“Well,” she says lightly, “if only you didn’t work your employees beyond their human limits and treat them like the robots you’re trying to create, you’d have a healthier environment. People might actually want to keep up with the deadlines… if they were realistic.”
The entire cluster freezes.
My pulse spikes so hard I feel it in my throat.
Tom stops chewing.
Sarah nearly drops her drink.
Someone across the room actually turns around because the silence is that loud.
Voss’s smile drops.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
He turns to her fully, shoulders squared, eyes narrow.
“Well, if only you actually worked here and knew what the hell was going on,” he states, “you wouldn’t be so quick to open your mouth about things you don’t understand.”
Gabrielle smiles at him like he’s adorable.
“Sir, I probably have more experience being empathetic with people and knowing how humans actually operate than you do, obviously,” she says calmly.
“You don’t surround yourself with real people or real representations of them because everyone respects you enough to be afraid of you, but not enough to tell you the truth to your face.
And somehow you go on your interviews claiming you ‘foster a prolific environment’. You’re a hypocrite and a liar.”
Gabby says all of this with a smile, as though it’s funny.
Holy shit… did she have too much to drink?
“I’m so sorry. She’s a little drunk,” I start to say, reaching out a hand slightly as if I can reel her back in.
Gabby cuts me off immediately. “No, I’m not. What, is your CEO afraid of hearing the truth? Or is he man enough to take constructive criticism from the very people he’s trying to sell his product to?”
Everyone goes dead quiet.
Voss swallows, like he’s trying to keep his temper in check. “I can assure you, you’re not the audience to which I’m selling this product,” he says, very pointedly implying she’s too poor for the demographic.
Gabrielle lifts her chin. “Yes, but… since I know that you’re probably not a forward thinker, someday I’m thinking that people like me would be the audience; or you’d want them to be over time. Would you not?”
No one breathes. Voss just stares at her like a cat humoring its prey before it lands the kill strike.
But Gabby doesn’t stop. I really wish she would. But it’s too late. The train is now off the tracks.
“So what, do you want people to keep lying to you so that your business is short-lived and your competitors eventually overtake you because they’re better at the part that you refuse to improve on? Or do you want people who are actually going to try and help you?” she continues.
“Not that I want to help you. I don’t know anything about you, but I can tell that you’re so full of yourself, you’re going to end up being your own downfall.”
Oh my God.
A pin could drop and echo off the walls.
The music is practically off now.
The CEO just stares at Gabby, and she stares right back, swaying lazily, hips rocking lightly, wine glass still in her hand like this is a private joke between them.
My heart just about stops. I genuinely feel like I might pass out.
Then Tobias’s lips curve.
And he smiles.
Then he laughs.
Startling. A crack of thunder in the silence.
Everyone else laughs too, those terrified little chuckles people make when they’re not sure if someone just got fired.
“Holy shit, wow,” Voss says. “Oh my God, the ball’s on you. You have more balls on you than every man in this room. Well woman.”
He’s almost wheezing.
I’ve never heard him cuss like this unless he’s furious, and he’s not furious.
He turns to me. “I really like her.”
Someone nearby pipes up that she’s my ex-wife, and Voss snaps his attention back to me.
“You let this woman go. Dumbass move.”
“I’m actually working it out. I mean, not working it out, but she’s working for me,” I say, stumbling over the words.
“She’s working for you?” Tobias repeats, incredulous. “Ain’t she a little too much woman for you, Lincoln?”
He keeps staring at Gabby, and she’s the only person in the room who doesn’t look terrified.
She’s not smiling. She looks genuinely confused by all of this.
Then he asks, “You know what? What’s your name again? Gabrielle?”
“Yes, sir,” she replies smugly, taking another sip of her wine.
“I’m feeling very generous, and as a Christmas gift, I’d like to offer you a job working here.”
Gabrielle’s eyes fly open. She looks at me. I look at her. Then back at him.
Sarah’s eyes are huge.
“What is she going to be? The janitor?” Sarah asks.
Tobias glares at her.
His smile evaporates.
Sarah instantly averts her eyes, face coloring.
“I want you to get into contact with me,” he says to Gabrielle, handing her his card. He smiles at her, eyes scanning her from head to toe. “You’re beautiful and deadly. What a woman indeed.”
Then he twists the knife.
“Maybe it’s best y’all didn’t work out because I don’t think you would have ended up doing so anyway. I think women like Sarah are probably more Lincoln’s speed.”
Sarah’s face collapses, embarrassment, hurt, humiliation all crawling up her neck. She walks away stiffly, like she’s either about to cry or throw up.
And I actually feel bad for her. Everyone heard that.
Everyone. Voss meant it 100% as an insult to the both of us. I’m sure he’s heard the rumours and seen all the online buzz.
There’s still a part of me wondering if Tobias is going to pull me into his office later and destroy me privately, and right now he’s just saving face.
After Voss steps away, Gabby starts breathing fast. She looks panicked.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she keeps saying. “It’s just that he worked you so hard and oh my God, I don’t want you to lose your job.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “Trust me, if he wanted to say something to you, he would have said it right here.”
The CEO mingles around the room again, socializing in his usual intimidating way, until later, when the evening winds down and he sees I’m tired and getting ready to leave with Gabrielle.
“You’re leaving?” he asks.
Gabrielle looks back. I answer, “Yeah.”
“I mean it, Gabrielle,” he says, stepping closer. “I really would like you working at Helion with us. We need people with your spirit. And I can tell that you have good work ethic.”
Gabrielle lets out a small laugh. “How can you tell that just from one interaction?”
“Contrary to what you believe about me,” Tobias says, “I actually do know how to read people very well. And I respect people that are truthful. Lincoln is that way too. I mean, when it comes to work anyway.”
It was definitely a jab at me. And since he knows how to read people, he probably knows that I cheated on Gabrielle. Probably takes one to know one. Even though he's not married, pretty sure he's broken every woman's heart he's been with. He's that much of an asshole for me to believe it.
Gabrielle lifts her chin. “I’ll work with you on one condition.”
Tobias bursts out laughing, turning toward the nearby employees. “See? Look at her language. I’ll work with you. Not for you. I love this girl. What’s the condition?”
“If I can bring Morris with me, my cat.”
I blink at her. “Your cat?”
“Yes. My cat,” she says. “I’m the one taking care of him.”
Voss scans the room. “Anybody allergic to cats?”
Silence.
A gray-haired man raises his hand slowly. “I am.”
“You’re fired,” Tobias says.
The man lowers his hand immediately, looking sick.
“Anybody else?” he asks the crowd.
Nobody moves.
Nobody even breathes.
Did that honestly just happen?
Because holy shit… I think it did.
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